Journal of Tea Science Research, 2024, Vol.14, No.4, 192-201 http://hortherbpublisher.com/index.php/jtsr 197 Figure 3 Effect of microbial inoculation on disease caused by the soil-borne pathogen Fusarium oxysporum(Adopted from Minchev et al., 2021) Image caption: (A) Survival of tomato plants after 15 days of growth in F. oxysporum-infected soil. Seeds were either water-inoculated (“disease control”) or inoculated with the individual or consortia treatments. A “non-diseased control” was also included, where water-inoculated seeds were sown in soil without F. oxysporum. Single strains were inoculated at 1 × 107 cfu/plant and the consortia were inoculated at the same concentration for each microorganism (SynCom1A, SynCom2A) or at 1 × 107 cfu/plant total microbial concentration (SynCom1B, SynCom2B). Bars represent predicted mean ± SE of the probability of seedling survival based on a generalized linear model with binomial distribution and logit link function. Black dots represent raw data points. Treatments not sharing a letter in common are significantly different based on the Tukey honestly significant difference (HSD) test (p < 0.05, n = 5). (B) Survival of plant seedlings in F. oxysporum-infected soil. Pictures illustrate plant survival in non-diseased and disease control, Trichoderma harzianum, and SynCom2A treatments (Adapted from Minchev et al., 2021) 5.3 Synergy with genetic and breeding approaches The synergy between biological control strategies and genetic or breeding approaches can lead to the development of more resilient tea plants. By understanding the genetic basis of beneficial plant-microbe interactions, researchers can breed "microbe-optimized crops" that are better suited to support and benefit from microbial biocontrol agents (Rahman et al., 2018). This approach not only enhances the plant's natural defense mechanisms but also increases the efficacy and reliability of biocontrol strategies. Additionally, the use of entomopathogenic microorganisms has shown promising results in controlling tea pests, suggesting that integrating these microbes with genetically improved tea varieties could further enhance pest management outcomes (Deka and Babu, 2021). 6 Environmental and Economic Impacts 6.1 Environmental benefits of microbial biocontrol Microbial biocontrol strategies offer significant environmental benefits compared to traditional chemical pesticides. The use of entomopathogenic microorganisms (EM) such as fungi, nematodes, viruses, and bacteria has been shown to effectively manage tea pests while minimizing environmental contamination and pesticide residues (Sare et al., 2021). These microbial agents are eco-friendly alternatives that help maintain soil fertility
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjQ4ODYzNA==